


Special Deliverance

by egret



Series: Rehabilitated [5]
Category: The Yards (1999)
Genre: Animal Attack, M/M, outdoors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 01:18:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/egret/pseuds/egret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willie and Leo go camping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special Deliverance

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the then-buzz around _Brokeback Mountain_ , I tried to send Willie and Leo on a camping trip, but they didn't want to go.

“What was that?”  
“What?”  
“There was a noise,” Willie hissed.  
“It’s a big forest,” Leo said calmly. “I don’t know every noise. Calm down.”  
“Fuck you, you calm the fuck down,” Willie whispered.  
“I’m calm already,” Leo couldn’t totally keep the amusement out of his voice. “Are you done pissing yet?”  
“I can’t stop listening,” Willie whined.  
“Oh for chrissake,” Leo muttered. He shook off and zipped up and leaned against a tree, crossing his arms impatiently.  
“Well, don’t watch me!” Willie sounded aggravated.   
“OK, sorry. I’ll get some more firewood.”  
“Don’t leave me!” Willie shrieked.  
Leo bit his lip hard. Willie sounded genuinely frightened. You wouldn’t think a hardened murdering ex-con would get so spooked by camping out, but people were full of surprises. He sighed and moved to stand behind Willie. He kissed his neck and put his hands on his waist and said, “Go on. Relax. I gotcha. I’ll keep a lookout.” After another long few seconds, Willie sighed and there was the sound of urine splattering against the tree. Leo kissed his neck again.   
“Thank god I don’t gotta shit out here,” Willie said.  
“It’s easy. Just make sure you don’t wipe with poison ivy or nothing.”  
“Didn’t you bring any babywipes?” Willie sounded alarmed.  
“What are you gonna do with the dirty babywipe?”  
“Throw it away.”  
“Where?”  
Willie shrugged and zipped his pants. “I don’t care. It’s a big forest.”  
“Litterbug. You’ll make Smokey the Bear cry.”  
“There better not be fuckin’ bears, Leo. The inn’s right over there, right? They wouldn’t come this close to the inn.” Willie turned around. Leo kissed his cheek, but Willie ignored that, stepping aside and peering around. “Where is the inn? Oh my god, Leo! Where are we?”  
Leo turned him three-quarters of the way around. “See the path we stepped off?”  
“That clear space?”  
“Yeah.”  
“OK. I see it.”  
“Down there is our tent, and the clearing, and then a quick walk to the big meadow, and the inn’s on the other side of the meadow, remember?”  
“There’s no lights.”  
“There’s a full moon. And I got our flashlight. Come on, back to the tent, keep an eye out for dry wood.”  
“Yeah, right,” Willie muttered. He clutched at Leo’s hand. Leo switched on the flashlight and guided them carefully the fifty feet back along the path to the clearing where they’d set up camp. He’d thought Willie might enjoy sleeping outside, and the inn included use of the camping equipment, but so far Willie had just been anxious. 

Their small fire had not completely gone out. Leo was relieved. He squatted down and carefully added small pieces of kindling, blowing gently. Willie sat near by, wringing his hands. “What are you doing?”  
“Building up the fire.”  
“Why?”  
“To toast marshmallows.”  
“Why?”  
“For fun. Maybe we can heat up some water and make cocoa too?”  
“With what?”  
“The fire.”  
Willie sighed. “It’s not gonna work, Leo.” He slapped at the side of his neck. “And I think it’s drawing bugs. Just turn it off and let’s go to sleep. I can’t wait for morning.”  
“Why?”  
“So we can go back inside.” Willie stood up. “We can go back inside in the morning, right? We don’t have to use fire for breakfast and shit, right?”  
Leo sighed. “No. You don’t wanna toast marshmallows with me? Sit and snuggle by the fire?”  
“No, I wanna go in the tent and wait for morning. Where’s the other flashlight?”   
Leo held out the extra flashlight. Willie took it and headed for the tent a few yards away. Leo sat by the fire for a minute. It was dying down and he should pour water on it. He looked up at the stars. There were so many of them out here away from the city. He had thought it would be romantic out here, but Willie had grumbled all through dinner about why they would ever want to sleep out here when they had a big comfy bed and a hot tub inside. Leo put it out of his mind and looked up at the stars again. Willie couldn’t help being who he was, and that was good in a lot of ways, and he wasn’t going to be a control freak and insist that Willie like the woods just because he did. Willie could hate it if he wanted to, and it was OK. The stars were still pretty. Willie does not control the stars, Leo reminded himself. Love is one thing; you don’t have to get codependent.   
He jumped to his feet and ran for the tent the instant Willie screamed.   
Willie seemed to fly backwards out of the tent and barreled straight into Leo, knocking him over. Willie tumbled down on top of him, still screaming. Leo yelled, “What? What?”  
“Fuckin’ bear!” Willie screamed. “We’re gonna die!”  
A raccoon chattered its way out of their tent, foil candy wrapper dangling from its mouth, eyes angry. Willie shrieked and tried to scramble further backwards. Leo held him tight and picked up a rock. He aimed with the flashlight and then threw the rock, hard. It hit the raccoon in the side, and the raccoon chattered again and ran off.   
There was a long moment of silence. Finally Leo said, “I think it’s OK now.”  
“It was inside the tent!” Willie sounded horrified.  
“I told you to leave the candy in the cooler.”  
“You didn’t say animals would bite me!”  
Leo grabbed his shoulders. “Did it bite you? Show me!”  
Willie shrugged. “Well, no. I was too fast for it. But it wanted to.”  
“It wanted to eat the candy in peace.” He pushed Willie’s hip. “Get off me, I think I’m sitting on a rock or something.”  
Willie stood up, brushing his pants off. “Well, that settles it, right?”  
“What?”  
“We can go back inside, right?”  
“In the morning. It was just a raccoon.” Willie stared down at the ground, rubbing his neck like he did when he was trying not to say something. Leo looked up at the stars again. Maybe he was being unrealistic. He stood behind Willie and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Do something for me, baby,” he whispered.  
“What, out here?”  
“Yeah.”  
“No! It’s creepy out here.”  
Leo kissed Willie’s ear and cheek. “No, not that. Just, lean back against me a little and put your head back.”  
“Why?”  
“I wanna show you something, but you gotta look up.”  
“I seen everything you got, Leo.”  
Leo swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “No, it’s not about that. Just, trust me. Put your head back and look up at the sky.”  
Willie snorted, but he leaned back and rested his head on Leo’s shoulder. His fingers were warm on Leo’s wrists. “Kiss me already then.” His eyes were closed.  
Leo kissed his cheek. “Open your eyes, hon. Look at all the stars in the sky.”  
“This is totally stupid.” Willie opened his eyes. Leo looked up too. The entire Milky Way was there, like a road you could dance down like you were in a movie. Leo reminded himself they were millions of miles away. It made him dizzy thinking about it. Willie said, “Do you think the tent is still safe?”  
“Huh?”  
“If a raccoon could get in, maybe other stuff could get in. Maybe we should go back.”  
Leo let go of him carefully. “I’m not lugging all that stuff back in the dark. I’ll trip and break my leg. Go get in the tent.”  
“Not by myself,” Willie pouted. “There could be a bear.”  
“I’m coming too,” Leo sighed. No point sitting out there thinking romantic thoughts when he had unhappy wilderness captive boy with him. He crawled into the tent and started rolling out his sleeping bag and padded mat by the glow of the big lantern flashlight.   
Willie followed suit, grabbing his own sleeping bag. “I’m not gonna be able to sleep in this,” Willie said. “The ground’s too hard and it’s too cramped in here.”   
Leo said, “I want you to stop complaining for a little bit now.”  
“I can’t help it that there’s so much to complain about.”  
Leo sat back on his heels for a minute. None of this was working out like he’d pictured it. For a minute, he considered packing up and heading back to their comfortable room with the sleigh bed and the hot tub. It would probably mean waking everyone up to get back inside, and lots of explanations. Besides which, he was tired from lugging everything out here, and he didn’t want to put his boots back on. He reached over and dragged Willie’s sleeping bag closer to his.  
“Hey!” Willie protested. “Don’t take it away! It’s better than nothing!” He grabbed an end of the sleeping bag and glared.  
Leo forced himself to smile. “Let go. It’s alright. I’m putting them together.”  
“What?”  
“Our sleeping bags. Don’t you want to sleep with me? I’m zipping them together. Let go.”  
Willie let go. Leo zipped the sleeping bags into one larger one and arranged it carefully on the mat. He slipped out of his jeans and got into the big sack. Willie looked down on him. “That’s it?”  
“What’s it?”  
“That’s it? You’re in bed? No bathroom? No toothbrushing?”  
“I just went. I’m too tired to brush my teeth.”  
“I’m not kissing you then.”  
“Yeah, well, I’ll live through the night, I think.” Willie frowned and sat down beside Leo. He smacked the ground a little, though Leo didn’t think it was so bad with the foam mat and the padded sleeping bag. Probably his back would tell him different in the morning.   
“Do I have to take my jeans off?” Willie asked.  
“No. I thought you’d be more comfortable.”  
“I don’t want nothing to crawl on me.”  
“Nothing’s gonna crawl on you except me, honey. Lie down, you’re letting the cool air in.”  
Willie flung himself down angrily and then whimpered, his back towards Leo. Leo petted his back. “Hey. You OK?”  
“No.”  
“I got a lifesaver if you wanna kiss me. You’d kiss me if I had a breath mint, right?”  
Willie didn’t turn around. “I don’t wanna kiss you. And I’m not taking my pants off. And I’m not blowing you either. I’ll give you a handjob if you want.” He turned onto his back and stared up at the tent. “Do you want that?”  
Leo didn’t understand. He reached for Willie’s hand and held it, but it just lay limp in his own. “Are you mad at me, Will?”  
“No,” Willie whispered. “I don’t know why I’m in trouble? I’m sorry I fell asleep last night! I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t you.”  
Leo rubbed Willie’s chest. “You’re not in trouble, honey. I told you not to worry about that this morning already. I fell asleep right after you.” They had both conked out the instant they hit the bed after they had spent all of yesterday swimming and running around in the fresh air. “Why do you think you’re in trouble?”  
“You’re making me stay outside.”  
“We’re camping out, honey. I’m right here with you.”  
“Cuz it must be dangerous.”  
“No, Will. It’s just a vacation thing, sleeping outside. It’s not a punishment, like locking you out. I’m here with you cuz I like it.” Leo remembered now that when they were teenagers, Willie’s cousins used to lock him out once in awhile, to teach him not to take them for granted. Willie’s cousins were assholes. Though usually Willie just came and stayed over his house then, and that had been nice. “And I would never lock you out of the house, Will. Come on.”  
“I don’t wanna talk about it no more, Leo. Good night.”  
Leo sighed. “Alright. Are you OK?”  
“I told you!”  
“Alright. Sweet dreams, honey.” Leo switched off the lantern and settled down, snuggling against Willie’s back. He closed his eyes and adjusted his neck against the unwieldy air pillow. He started to think about relaxing, starting with his toes, but he was distracted by the terrible body odor rolling off of Willie. He would swear he hadn’t smelled that bad when he got in the bed, even if they hadn’t showered. He moved his head further away from the sour stink and squinted, but it was pitch black and he couldn’t actually see Willie right next to him. There was a jittery clicking sound, and it took Leo ten seconds or so to realize it was Willie’s teeth chattering. He switched the lantern back on. Willie was pale and terrified and shaking. Leo hugged him close and pushed the sleeping bag down a little for a bit more air. “Oh, baby.” Willie clutched at him, silent. Leo rubbed his back. “I forgot how the dark bothered you.” He’d stopped noticing the nightlight in their room, and never given it another thought. Kinda stupid, he admitted to himself.  
Willie shook his head, but he had no words, just shivering.   
Leo smoothed his hair and then reached for his own jeans. “OK, hon. We’ll go back. Put your shoes on.”  
Willie jumped out of the sleeping bag and scrambled into his sneakers. “Gracias, papi.”  
Leo followed a little more slowly, stumbling into his pants and trying not to fall over in the tiny tent. He handed Willie his backpack and picked up his own, and the flashlight. “Come on. We’ll get the rest of the stuff tomorrow when we can see what we’re doing. Follow me.”

The path was treacherous in the dark. The pale circle of light from the flashlight only seemed to emphasize how dark it was everywhere else. The stars seemed colder than ever, though Leo still wished they could stand and look at them. Willie tucked his fingers into Leo’s waistband and followed half a step behind him, still shaking a little. Leo doublechecked that the fire was really out and laced up their tent. He hoped no one would steal shit this far out from the city. The path back to the meadow seemed longer than before, but Leo was following the reflective blazes on the trees and didn’t worry. Eventually, he saw the shining clearing of the meadow coming up a little to their right, and the inn beyond that. They had only been about a fifteen minute walk from the inn. Leo followed the path quietly and stopped at the edge of the meadow, hoping there would be deer in it. 

There were a couple of does and an antlered buck. A small doe was a few yards away from them. They must be downwind. Leo turned to Willie and made a warning face, then pointed at the doe. Willie coughed and looked up and then made a sick moan and Leo smelled urine. Before he could fathom whether Willie had actually pissed himself over a deer, there was a terrible scream. He grabbed at Willie, opening his mouth to tell him to stop screaming, but it wasn’t coming from Willie, and Willie wasn’t even looking at him. Leo followed his terrified gaze and saw something pale fall screaming out of the sky onto the small deer and snap its neck. There was another cough and scream and then a tearing sound and blood. 

Leo thought he might throw up. The other deer had vanished and the mountain lion started to turn its head. Something almost ripped Leo’s arm off and he screamed but followed to keep up with his arm. Willie ran across the meadow, screaming and dragging Leo. Leo scrambled to keep up with him and not dislocate his arm. They ran through a brook and over some rough stones and up a little hill and into the parking lot behind the inn. Willie pulled him around the front to the door and yanked on it. It was locked. Willie leaned on the bell.  
Leo tried to pull him off it. “Stop, you’re gonna wake everybody.”  
“There’s a fucking killer animal out there!” Willie shrieked. “It killed the deer!”  
Lights were going on in the inn and footsteps came near. Willie yelled “Let us in! Fucking hurry! We’re gonna get killed out here!”  
Leo put his sore arm around Willie and wished he’d calm down. Tom Coogan looked through the curtain at them and opened the door carefully, holding, unbelievably, a shotgun. “Something wrong, boys?”  
Willie grabbed the gun and shoved past him, pushing him out of the way. “Let us the fuck in, there’s fucking killers out there!”   
Tom stumbled back a little and snarled, “What the fuck--”  
Leo hurried after Willie, grabbing for the gun. “Give it back to him, Willie. For chrissakes. We’re in now. Calm down.”  
“Shut the fucking door before it gets in here!” Willie shrieked.  
“Shhhh, Willie,” came from the stairs. Sarah Coogan stood there in her bathrobe, pretty in spite of the hour and confusion. “The other guests are trying to sleep.”  
Leo shut the door and locked it.   
Tom turned another lock Leo hadn’t noticed, then he grabbed his gun back from Leo. “Don’t you ever touch this gun again, do you hear me?” he snarled at Willie.  
“Si, sir.” To Leo’s horror, Willie dropped to his knees in the foyer of the inn, dropping his head like a repentant submissive. Willie said, “I have a dom who will punish me if necessary.”  
Leo had taught him to say that if he felt threatened by anyone at Theresa’s parties. He hadn’t taught him to drop to his knees for strangers though. Tom reached for Willie’s shoulder -- to pat it? to pull him up? Leo didn’t know. He didn’t think. He just took two steps and got between them, knocking Tom’s arm out of the way. He forced himself to look pleasant. “Don’t touch him. I’m sorry. He’s a little upset.”  
Tom sniffed. “Well, you should punish him. He shouldn’t touch other people’s guns. And he shouldn’t scream the house down. And one of you smells terrible. What the hell is going on? Where’s all the camping gear?”  
Sarah was at Tom’s side now, rubbing his arm. “We’ll sort it all out. Just calm down. Everyone be quiet now. I’ll make some cocoa.” She smiled at Leo. “Is there an emergency or do you have time for a quick shower?”  
“There’s a mountain lion in your meadow.”  
“Oh bullshit,” Tom snarled, and stormed out of the room.   
Leo heard the back door in the kitchen opening, and yelled after him. “Tom! Don’t go out there! We’re not kidding!”  
Sarah gave him a hard look and then hurried to the kitchen. “Honey, stop. Put the gun away. Let’s calm down and hear what they have to say. Maybe it’s all a mistake.” Her voice got lower. “Maybe they were drinking or something, who knows? I don’t think they’re lying on purpose. Let’s just all calm down. Probably an honest mistake.” There was a lower rumble. Sarah said, “I know, I saw, honey. I think he just wanted to get in the house cuz he was scared. He didn’t, y’know, brandish it. You scared him so bad he got subby to you.”  
Leo crouched by Willie, who was shivering and sniffling. He kissed the top of his head. “I think a hot shower sounds like a great idea. Wanna come with me?” Willie nodded and let himself be pulled to his feet, then followed Leo upstairs to their room. The bed was freshly made up and everything looked peaceful. Leo longed to lie down, but he guided Willie into the bathroom, stripped him, and followed him into the shower as soon as he could ditch his own clothes. Willie reached for him and hugged him close and cried. Leo swayed gently and rubbed his back. “My poor Willie. You’re so smart and I should listen to you more.”  
“I’m an idiot,” Willie croaked.  
“You knew something was wrong out there.”  
“I pissed myself.”  
“There was a fucking mountain lion big enough to kill us. Anybody would have.”  
“It looked at me,” Willie whispered. “It hated me.”  
Leo kissed his cheek. “When, hon?”  
“In the tree. I heard something and I looked up and it was looking down at me.”  
“I never heard a thing. I just heard you cough and then it was all crazy.”  
“It coughed, not me.” Leo hugged him tighter and Willie squeezed back. “What if it hadn’t picked the deer?” Willie whispered.  
Leo shivered. “I don’t know, baby. Probably a deer tastes better.”  
“I’m scared, papi.”  
“I’m scared too. But not right now. Cuz it’s not gonna come in the shower with us. We’re OK now.”  
“I don’t wanna go out at night up here no more.”  
“Alright. We’ll stay in and snuggle in our room.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Want me to shampoo ya?”  
“OK.”  
Leo washed Willie gently and efficiently. Willie loved being washed, it was one of his favorite submissive things to do, though he’d objected when Leo had described it that way once. Leo was trying to get him to see that submitting could be for good things too. He had hoped that hanging out with his kinkier friends would help Willie to separate reality from his dismal and depressing porn movies of submission and pain, but Willie got so self-conscious around his friends that visiting with them became its own act of submission. Leo had tried to convince him that people were not all that obsessed with what they might be doing in bed, but Willie felt like he was on some kind of kinky display all the time. Leo had to admit his friends weren’t the most welcoming in the world. Maybe they needed to make new friends together. He kissed Willie’s temple. God, he loved Willie so much. Only Willie would somehow draw a mountain lion in, probably just with his yumminess. Or maybe he was so sexy that wild animals saw it too. Maybe that’s why the raccoon was in their tent, too. Leo smiled into Willie’s hair, and kept his stupid animal thoughts to himself.

 

All the bad feelings were washing down the drain under Leo’s gentle hands. Willie sighed and leaned against Leo a little bit. It was even hard to be embarrassed when Leo babied him like this, washing and cuddling. He couldn’t believe he’d yelled at the Coogans. Probably he’d ruined the inn for them now and they could never come back. “Papi?”  
“Mmm?” Leo was smoothing a soft washcloth over his back like he was polishing antiques.  
“Will they throw us out, ya think?”  
“No, I don’t think. We paid already.”  
“Maybe they just won’t let us come back?”  
Leo stopped rubbing and kissed his mouth quickly, then looked at him seriously. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We were upset and scared cuz we saw a scary animal outside. Anyone would be scared by that. We’re gonna go back downstairs and explain it now. Come on. Put your sweats on.”  
Leo held his hand while he stepped out of the shower. He loved how Leo looked out for him. “Papi?”  
“Yeah, babe?”  
“I’m sorry I knelt for him.”  
Leo pulled his own sweatshirt on and then kissed Willie’s cheek. “You did the right thing. You didn’t know what to do so you referred him to me. We can work on the idea that you don’t gotta kneel to say it, but you did fine.” Willie followed Leo into the bedroom and got his hair supplies, then sat on the floor between Leo’s knees. Leo rubbed baby no-tears detangler through Willie’s hair and then guided a wide-toothed comb through it, careful not to pull. Willie sat quietly. It felt good to be fussed over and combed. Leo hadn’t even brought the spanking hairbrush. In fact, Leo had declared the whole vacation to be nonspanking and if he was bad he would just have to wait till they were home to get it. Not that he was going to be bad.   
Leo pinched his earlobe and Willie jumped. “I can’t fix your hair if you put your head down,” Leo said. “Don’t sleep yet. Anyway, your hair’s good enough for now. Let’s go down and explain ourselves so we can come back up and sleep.” He stood up and pulled Willie to his feet. Willie put his face up to be kissed, and Leo kissed him, smiling. “My good boy.” Willie smiled back at him.

 

The Coogans had laid out sandwiches and coffee and cocoa and cookies next to the fireplace in the den. It was almost 2 am. Leo sat in an armchair near the fire. Willie sat on the floor beside Leo’s feet. It was so nice to be inside near the fire with Leo and not outside in the dark. He hoped the Coogans wouldn’t tell them they could never come back. Even if it was expensive, it was worth saving up to come here and be able to sit like this, with his head on Leo’s knee. He didn’t know why it was different. He felt weird to touch Leo around Leo’s friends, like they always stared, or they thought they knew how Leo was with him in private. They thought he had Leo fooled or something. But they would never know how Leo really was, because they didn’t know him so well, and hadn’t known him so long, and that was really it, not just some sex thing. No one at the inn ever looked at them funny. If they noticed anything, they just smiled. Leo said the inn was gay- and kink-friendly, and that’s why he could just relax. Willie thought that was practically admitting his friends were unfriendly, but he didn’t say it because he didn’t want to argue about Leo’s stupid friends. 

Leo tapped his head in a way that meant “sit up,” so he did. Sarah handed him a tray with a sandwich and cup of cocoa. He said, “Thanks, Sarah.”  
Leo cleared his throat in that “I’m in charge” way. He said, “We’re sorry for making all that noise and we hope we didn’t ruin the night for the other guests. We were just very frightened by what we saw, and we panicked a little bit.”  
Tom nodded. “We’ll have a look in the morning and see what’s out there. Where did you see this animal?”  
“Where the path starts at the back of the meadow, heading to the camping area. It was in a tree right above the path. It killed a deer in the meadow.”  
“You saw it do that? Up close?”  
Leo nodded. “Yeah. I thought something fell out of the sky. I definitely saw it on the deer.”  
Sarah said, “Awfully dark out there.”  
“There’s starlight and my flashlight.”  
Tom said, “Flashlight should have scared it away.”  
No one said anything for a minute. Willie chewed his sandwich and stared at the fire. Finally Leo said, “I don’t know enough about it. Willie had a nervous feeling the whole evening, so maybe it was around earlier too. He’s more sensitive to it.”  
Tom snorted. “Got nothing to do with sensitive or not. It’s a cougar, it hunts stuff, it don’t care if you’re nervous.”  
Willie swallowed and said quietly, “It made a noise. Like a scream.” He didn’t want to look at Tom though. He’d seen how Tom looked at him in the doorway, like some gangster home invasion.   
Tom said, “Who--” and then Sarah elbowed him and said, “We didn’t hear anything until you rang the bell.” She stood up. “I’m glad no one was hurt. We’ll go have a look in the morning. I’m heading to bed now. Good night. Tom?”  
Leo said good night and the Coogans went upstairs. Willie twisted and looked up at Leo. “Do you think they hate us?”  
“No. We’re customers. Come on, finish your sandwich and let’s get to bed.”

 

Leo left the lamp on beside the bed, and the light in the bathroom with the door ajar, but when he climbed into the sleigh bed after Willie, Willie still slid over and clung to him, shivering. Leo kissed his forehead and hugged him. “You cold, hon?”  
“We coulda died!”  
Leo squeezed him tighter. “Uh-huh. But we didn’t. You know why?”  
“No.”  
“Cuz you were paying good attention, and you saw it. I bet you scared it off.”  
“No I didn’t. It ate the deer.”  
“Long as it didn’t eat us, baby, I don’t care. Now get some sleep.”  
“I can’t sleep.”  
“Of course you can. All that fresh air and running. And this bed’s so comfy.”  
“What about all our stuff?”  
Leo rubbed Willie’s back. “What, the camping stuff? It’s mostly the inn’s stuff. Don’t worry about it.”  
Willie curled up in a ball with his head on Leo’s thigh. “Did we bring the lube?” His voice was small and tight. “I don’t wanna do it without lube.”  
Leo grabbed Willie’s shoulders and yanked hard. “Hey. Sit up and snap out of it.”  
“Don’t hurt me!”  
“Where are you?” Leo demanded. “Open your eyes and look at me.”  
“Papi?”  
“Si, yes, with your papi. Wake up, Willie. See where you are.”  
Willie’s eyes focused. “Hi.”  
“Hi. You’re gettin’ me confused with someone else.”  
“I love you.”  
“I love you too.”  
Willie leaned against Leo and put his head on his shoulder and an arm around his waist. Leo cuddled back and arranged the pillows so they could lay back a little. Willie said, “I love you so much that even if I found out something bad you did, I would still love you the same.”  
Leo kissed his cheek. “I would still love you the same too. And you know my worst stuff anyway.”  
“I, like, I have stuff. Bad stuff.”  
Leo put his hand over Willie’s mouth and looked him hard in the eyes. “I don’t care. I don’t care what bad stuff you did. That’s all over. You’re with me now. I want you to forget all that bad stuff. Do you understand?” Willie just looked at him. Leo sighed. “I’m not your priest. You don’t gotta tell me every bad thing.” Willie frowned. Leo kissed his eyebrows. “Listen, if you wanna tell me, if you need to talk about it, I would listen to you forever when you wanna share your feelings, honey, about anything. I care a lot about your feelings. But if it’s gonna make you relive it, and make you feel bad, then you can just know in advance that I love you anyway. No matter what. Now do you understand?” Willie nodded. Leo moved his hand off his mouth and wiped a few tears off his cheeks. “Now I’m gonna tell you something else. How long we been together, honey?”  
“Six months,” Willie answered slowly.  
“Right. We made love a couple times?”  
“More than a couple,” Willie whispered.  
“Pretty regular thing, right?” Willie nodded and smiled a little.  
“How many times, do ya think? A hundred?”   
Willie smiled harder. “I lost count.”  
“OK. Well, six months is, let’s say, twenty-five weeks. So, say we fuck once a week.”  
“More than that.”  
“OK, twice a week.”  
“More than that,” Willie giggled.  
Leo rubbed Willie’s stomach. “Well, some weeks, but then there are those weeks you hold out on me, when you think I’m unfair or whatever.”  
Willie snorted. “Or those weeks you’re too busy with school!”  
“Right. Too busy for my yummy honeypie.” He loved how Willie smiled all flirty like that. “So, all those times, maybe like a hundred times?”  
Willie leaned against him and rubbed his thigh. “I wish I knew which one was the hundredth one. We could have champagne.”  
Leo hugged him. “We can have champagne a buncha times and make sure we catch it, OK?”  
“I like champagne.”  
“Me too. So, in all those times, have I ever done anything mean to you in bed? Anything to make it bad or hard for you?”  
“Does spanking count?”  
Leo looked at him seriously. “If you want it to count, it counts.”  
There was a longer silence than Leo expected. Finally Willie said, “Honest?”  
“Yeah, honest.” Leo felt a wave of anxiety. Maybe he’d been too cocky.  
“You smacked me once.”  
“You’re counting spanking?”  
“No. It wasn’t part of that. You were just, you thought I was too slow getting ready, and you had to wait a minute, and then you just smacked me once, for making you wait. I, it’s stupid, anyway, so, see? We’re good, Leo.”  
Leo looked at him for a long minute. “I don’t remember.”  
“It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago. Like, in March. It was one smack. I was just sensitive.”  
“What do you mean sensitive?”  
“I had strong feelings.”  
“You think I don’t?”  
“I wasn’t sure, so I was all sensitive. I wanted you to kiss me but you smacked me.”  
“I smacked you in the mouth and forgot about it?”  
“No! My, ass.”  
Leo took his hand and squeezed it. “You wanted me to kiss your ass?”  
Willie blushed. Leo thought one good thing about having the lights on is he got to see Willie blush. “No, not, um, everywhere on my ass.”  
Leo moved so he could breathe into Willie’s ear. “Oh. Is there one special spot on your ass you want me to kiss?” Willie squirmed. “Do you want, y’know, tongue?”  
Willie shoved at his chest. “Quit it!” he whined.  
“Oh, quit guessing cuz I got it right?”  
Willie twisted in his arms. “I’m not telling you nothing no more!”  
Leo held him tighter and made shushing noises. “Shhh, Willie, baby. Lie down now. Roll over for your papi. Come on, honey. You’re all worked up.”   
“No! No! I don’t wanna!” Willie started kicking, and Leo thought he might start crying.  
“Hey, shh, quit yellin’, hold still.” Willie stopped struggling. Leo petted his hair and tried to sound reasonable. “How am I gonna give you your special kisses if I can’t reach your butt, huh?” Willie looked at him doubtfully. Leo kissed his mouth gently, as sweetly as he could. Willie was a sap for sweet and gentle. He checked again, and Willie’s eyes had shifted from doubtful to hopeful. Leo smiled. “Where’s my tasty butt? You keeping it from me?”  
Willie flipped over hastily and slid his underpants off, then got on his knees and stuck his butt out. Leo took his time petting and stroking and kissing before getting down to the promised rimjob. Truth be told, it wasn’t his absolute favorite thing, but Willie totally blissed out from it, and blissed out Willie was his favorite Willie. Willie’s moaning was making him hard. He wasn’t totally sure Willie wanted to be fucked though. Anyone would be a little weird after a mountain lion almost attacked them. Leo felt a little weird himself. He kept licking and moving his tongue around. It wasn’t stomachturning or anything, but he wished he’d found the minty stuff first. Usually if Willie wanted to be fucked, he’d be demanding it by now. Leo reached between Willie’s legs to grab his erection and found Willie’s hand already there. It was annoying. Leo reminded himself not to be a control freak and kept licking and probing. His own hardon was fading and he didn’t bother stroking it back, because Willie would just go to sleep. Sure enough, Willie started his “almost there” panting. Leo did the jamming and twirling move and Willie shuddered beneath him and flopped down flat on his stomach. Leo felt a flicker of accomplishment and went to rinse his mouth. 

 

When he got back from the bathroom, Willie was snoring gently. Leo got in and shoved him over a little, which caused Willie to turn and cling to him, leechlike. Leo pulled the covers up over them and lay there, snuggled upon. Now he felt restless. But at least Willie wasn’t crying. He tried to relax and let it go. That fucking cougar or whatever the hell it was. It had smelled bad. Willie was so terrified but he was the one with the presence of mind to run. Leo would have just stood there staring until he turned into the second course. What was he thinking going out into the woods like that? How did he manage to forget Willie was afraid of the dark when it had taken him weeks to get used to sleeping with the nightlight on? He should have turned around and come home when it first got dark and Willie started asking when the streetlights would come on. Willie was not a wilderness boyfriend. Not your rugged offroad all-wheel-drive model. Leo smiled to himself. What was Willie? Not one of those cool Italian cars he loved, cuz he wasn’t that classy. Not even, like, a Camaro or a Corvette, because they were reliably responsive, and Willie spent a lot of time in the shop, if that’s what you call pouting in front of the television when he wasn’t actually arguing or requiring discipline and attention. Willie was like one of those classic cars, those antique things that you can only drive on sunny days and move slowly without scratching them, and then you spend all your time looking for shit in junkyards to patch them up, cuz the whole point is to restore them to their former glory. Leo’s smile faded. That wasn’t right either. There was precious little former glory and Willie was never gonna be the way he had been before jail. Which was good or they wouldn’t be together. But it still would have been nice to see the stars together.


End file.
